Fallen
by Hidden Dagger
Summary: They had a strange relationship. One would find the other so they could have ice-cream together. They don't talk to each other that much though, despite being the best of friends at one-point. But what's the reason for the silence? AU Platonic-VenxAqua Romantic-TerraxAqua Multiple Character Deaths. Dark. One-Shot


The water was calm as it splashed against the small island with a palm-like tree growing on it. The tree was small now, but with time it was going to grow into a mighty symbol of friendship and destiny, fitting for the name of the islands, Destiny Islands.

A young woman sat on that very island with her legs dangling over the edge. She was barefoot. He boots lied on their side beside her. Her once short blue hair now reached her past her shoulders and had barely noticeable white hairs mixed in despite the young woman being only twenty one.

A frown graced her flawless face as she starred off into the colourful sunset.

She ignored the sound of someone walking across the bridge to the island. She knew who it was, so why would she bother looking?

The person sat down beside her. Though she didn't notice, he was holding two bars of sea-salt ice-cream, something that, surprisingly, wasn't sold in any of the islands.

"Aqua." He spoke, his tone not showing how much he wanted to cry. She looked his way this time and he handed her one of the bars of ice-cream, which she took, though a bit hesitantly. She looked out at the sunset as they ate their ice cream. Her companion on the other hand, was looking down at the water, at his reflection.

'Why do I have to be the way I am?'

_Aqua and Terra were practising swinging their Keyblades when the large doors opened and two people walked in. After they exchanged confused looks, they raced down as fast as they could. By the time they got there, their teacher, Master Eraqus was there too._

_The two arrivals were an old but wise looking man who both Terra and Aqua recognized. The other was an unfamiliar boy, no older then the age of ten. He had golden blond hair that was styled in a way that made one think that the boy must have gone out in a wind storm with extra, extra strength hair gel and it never went back to normal, but a little bit more neat. He had dark blue eyes and the smallest of smirks on his face, one had to look hard to see it._

"_Yen Sid! What brings you and your young companion here? It is very uncommon for you to leave your tower." Eraqus said walking over to his old friend._

_Yen Sid had a solemn look on his face and he gave the boy a glance before replying. The small smile on the boy's face became a little bigger as he looked back._

"_I come with grave and terrible news. News that is not for your young apprentices ears." _

_A frown appeared on Eraqus's scarred face._

"_Then let us go discuss this privately."_

_Yen Sid gave a small nod before looking towards Aqua and Terra. _

"_Look after the boy and do not let him out of your sight. If he says anything or does anything suspicious, Eraqus and I are to be notified as soon as we are done talking."_

"_Of course." They said together._

_As the two old men walked away to discuss the matter on hand, the two young apprentices turned towards the boy._

"_So what's your story? Master Yen Sid is acting like you are something to be feared." Terra asked the much shorter boy. Before the boy could reply, Aqua cut in to reprimand Terra._

"_You should be asking his name first! It's impolite to not ask a stranger their name before asking for their life story!" Aqua gave Terra a small slap on his none-armoured arm after she said it._

"_Well, sorry for being curious!"_

_A giggle brought them out of a fight waiting to happen. It had been the boy._

"_Curiosity killed the cat. But satisfaction brought it back." He said with a bigger smile then before._

"_My name's Ventus by the way. Though I prefer to be called Ven." He added._

"_I'm Terra"_

"_Isn't that a girl name?"_

"_No! Well, maybe...blame my parents!"_

"_If it isn't already, you should tell people it's short for Terrance."_

"_You're right! I should."_

"_I'm Aqua."_

"_Fitting, with that hair colour of yours."_

"_My hair colour is probably the reason I was named."_

_By then they had forgotten to ask him again about why Yen Sid acted a bit weird around him. They didn't even remember when Eraqus and Yen Sid came back, both with unreadable looks on their faces. They were told that Ven was going to be continuing his training with them due to the unfortunate death of his former teacher, Master Xehanort._

_None of them noticed the sad smile that graced Ven's face when they said that._

He pushed some of his long hair out of his face with his free hand, before taking another bite out of his ice cream. He really needed to cut it or at least have an unlimited amount of hair ties and hair clips on hand at all times, even if it made him look more like a girl. But there was no way anyone could mistaken him for a girl. At age sixteen, he was the height of the young woman beside him and he was still growing. His body was muscular and mature. He looked almost nothing like a child anymore. It's amazing the things that puberty could do for a person.

"You don't seem to happy to see me, despite you kindly taking the ice-cream I brought." He commented, looking up away from the water and at her.

"I don't know what I feel right now. But you know why I wouldn't be happy to see you. I remind you almost every time we talk. And I took the ice-cream because I knew that it couldn't be poisoned." She replied, trying to appear angry but her tone gave away that she wasn't. Not at him at least.

He looked away from her and looked at the sunset too. It was almost gone and stars could faintly be seen appearing. It was depressing how quickly things could change.

'That shows that you still have at least some trust in me.'

_Aqua, Terra and Ventus looked up at all the different stars. Ventus had only been with them for a few days but they were getting along really well and were becoming good friends. This was the second night that they had went out and stargazed as a trio. In the morning they all made fun of themselves a bit by saying that they must be weird to like stargazing as much as they did but they never brought it up when they were actually watching the stars._

"_I wish I got to see the stars when I was younger." Ven said, not thinking at one point that he should look away from the starry sky before speaking. The other two stargazers appeared to have no thoughts of looking away either._

"_What do you mean by that Ven?" Aqua asked. _

_Ven frowned slightly._

"_The world that I originally came from didn't have night if the little I remember of it is true. And Xehanort always sent me to bed as as sunset was coming close to ending. To be truthful I was thankful for that seeing as I had to train for the whole day with rarely any breaks. When I did get breaks they were only about two minutes long, three if Xehanort was in a good mood. The only time I can remember actually seeing the stars for a long period of time is when I ran off to this world called Radiant Garden. The stars there were beautiful." _

"_You must have not liked Xehanort that much if you tone has anything to say about it." Terra commented._

_Ven nodded. "I didn't like him all. The only good thing he ever really did me in life was give me what some would call a home." He then added "And his death did cause me to come live here so I guess that is another good thing he's done for me."_

The sky was now completely dark and bright stars covered the sky. The two had long since finished their ice-cream and were now lying on their backs and gazing up at them.

The young teen had his hands behind his neck and his legs crossed while Aqua had her legs pressed together and her hands on her stomach.

"It's almost like the good old days right now. Almost." He muttered to himself. She heard him though.

'I must not cry. I must not remember again what he has done.' She often repeated this thought when he was around. She couldn't often bring herself to think about all that had happened. She knew he was still the same person she thought she knew. He just snapped sometimes and whenever he did it broke her heart.

He wasn't truly the one to blame for anything. It was all indirectly and directly one other person's fault. Darkness was also to blame, which strengthened her hatred of it even more. She had always known darkness to be be evil despite Terra and even Ven's insistence that it wasn't. Ven's claims were much better then Terra's though.

"_It is not darkness itself that is evil. It's what it is mostly used for that makes it seem evil. Light can also be evil it used the wrong way, just like darkness can be used for good if used the right way.'_

"I hate to break your heart again Aqua...but I snapped again today." He admitted before sitting up. Aqua also sat up, more quickly then he did. He looked towards her, close to tears.

"Who was it this time?" She asked in a soft voice. She knew never to get mad when he admitted to ending the life of yet another person. It made him feel even worse. He never liked killing anyone, no matter what the person had done, but he couldn't control himself.

"It was Braig. I don't remember if I ever told you about him just by himself. He was one of the apprentices of King Ansem of Radiant Garden, which I know I told you about. I thought that he was a pretty cool guy. He was actually the one who taught me how to shoot a gun. He seemed like such a nice guy. But then I found out what he was doing to Ienzo..." He said trailing off at the end, his fists clenching.

Ienzo was the boy that Aqua had heard so much about from him. He had come to consider the boy the little brother he never had. She could only imagine the worst because he hadn't specified just yet what Braig could have done to the young boy.

"So who are all the people have I killed? I've lost track." He asked looking down. He asked her this question often and she knew he remembered, but she always told him the answer.

"_Yen Sid and I have come to the agreement that, despite how much I hate to say this, while Aqua has passed, Terra has not."_

_Everyone in the room was silent. Yen Sid was shaking his head in a disappointed way, Terra and Aqua had looks of shock on their faces, both for different reasons while Ventus was standing in the corner with a look on his face that would have scared everyone else in the room had they looked his way._

"_But why Master!?" Terra asked, finally finding his voice._

"_You used darkness. Though I know it was not by your choice, it shows that you heart is not strong enough to contain it, therefore showing that your heart is not strong enough to be the heart of a Master."_

_Ven walked over to Terra and Aqua. Aqua was trying to get her friend to stop his yelling._

"_Maybe you should kiss him, that would shut him up for at least a few seconds." He said casually. His words brought silence to the room once again._

"_I guess there's no need to now. The mere thought of it seems to have shut him up." He muttered to himself._

_Terra pushed his two friends out of the way and stalked off in anger._

"_Sorry that you didn't become a Master and I'm sorry if my comment offended you." Ven called._

"_That was uncalled for Ven." Aqua said, a slight blush visible on her face._

_Ven didn't reply to her comment and looked over to where the two old Masters sat, somehow still calm. They were now conversing about the events that had just taken place, not seeming to care that only one had left the area._

"_Master Aqua, do you know how Xehanort died exactly?" He asked looking back at her. Aqua blinked at his use of _Master._She had only been a Master for less then five minutes and she didn't think it was right be called a Master until Terra was one too. _

_The topic of Xehanort had become a bit taboo over the years and she had almost forgotten about him. To bring him up now of all times was strange._

_She shook her head. "No, neither you or Master Eraqus told Terra or I anything about his passing."_

_Ven looked away again. "You're right. No one ever told you. All I can really say is that it wasn't from old age."_

_With those words, the fourteen year old stalked off, unnoticed by the conversing Masters, and leaving Aqua very confused._

"_His death wasn't an accident either." He added, below even a whisper so Aqua wouldn't hear him. _

"First it was Xehanort..."

_It was now night Terra and Aqua were stargazing, without their blond haired friend, who hadn't showed up. Neither were saying anything. Partly because Terra was still upset about not becoming a Master when she had but mostly because they, mostly Terra,__were a bit embarrassed by Ven's comment._

_"I can't believe Ven would suggest that you kiss me to make me be quiet." Terra finally said, looking at Aqua. Aqua turned her head to look back at him. A small frown appeared on her face. _

_"What would you done if I had kissed you to make you quiet? Would you have been embarrassed?"_

_A blush appeared on Terra's face as he tried his best to get out a reply._

"_Well...I...Yes...Maybe...I don-"_

_He was cut off when Aqua actually kissed him. He didn't pull away. They shared a long, passionate kiss and both enjoyed every moment of it._

"...Then it was..."

_Aqua and Terra walked__hand in hand through the halls on their way to their bedrooms. When they passed by Eraqus's room they smelled smoke, though different smelling them most smoke, and the sound of fire burning._

"_Strange, Master Eraqus hasn't used his fireplace in years." Aqua commented._

"_Maybe he's celebrating the fact that you've become a Master in his own slightly weird way."_

"_Maybe, but that smoke smells different then it should if wood was just burning."_

_When they reached their bedrooms they shared another long kiss before saying good night and going into the rooms. Aqua smiled as she crossed her room towards her bed. She changed into the pyjamas that she had left on the edge of her bed and crawled under the covers._

_As she drifted__off to sleep, she swore she heard the sound of crying, but her sleepy mind ignored it._

_The next morning, when Aqua woke up, she remember the crying she had heard before she fell asleep. _

"_Maybe it was Ven, but why would he be crying?"_

_She got out of bed and made her way to Ven's bedroom. She knocked on the door just in case he was awake, though it seemed a bit unlikely due to how early in the morning it was._

"_Come in." Ven, apparently awake, called from the other side of the door. She couldn't help but notice his tone of voice._

_When she opened the door and saw the state Ven was in she gasped._

_He was sitting on his bed with his knees to his chest. He was covered in dry blood and a thin layer of ash covered his face and clothing. His hair was singed in places and tear streaks, both fresh and dry, covered his cheeks. His eyes looked so dead and tired. _

"_My god Ven!" She ran over, sat down beside him and hugged him. He didn't hug back but he started to cry more. _

"_I snapped, for the second time in my life. I lasted four years but that was it." He sobbed._

_'Snapped? What does he mean by...he's covered in blood and ash...the fire from last night. No! He couldn't have!'_

"...Master Eraqus..."

"_It' was like I had no control over my body. I told myself to stop but I couldn't. I slit his throat while he slept. This is the second time something like thishas ever happened!" Ven managed to say in between his sobbing._

"_You've...killed before?" Aqua asked, a noticeable shake in her voice. She couldn't believe this was happening. She knew this had to be a bad dream she couldn't wake up from. But dream or not, she needed to know the truth._

_Ven nodded. "I killed Xehanort. But he deserved to die, unlike Master Eraqus. I don't know why I killed Master Eraqus, butXehanort__wanted me to submit to the darkness the whole time I was his apprentice, so I did, the day of his death. I ended up charging at him, freezing him and then pushing him off the cliff we were on. His body shattered when it hit the ground. I had more control that day then I did last night. Despite the fact that I enjoyed every minute of his death I still sometimes cry over it and yet I laugh over it too.__" __He sobbing had slowed down a little by now._

_She could truly see how much he regretted everything. They fact that he killed Xehanort wasn't that surprising, now that she thought back on everything that he had said about Xehanort. But she still couldn't believe that he could have killed Eraqus, in control or not._

_Despite the charges against him, she continued to hug him, tighter now. He was hugging her back now. Both were crying, though silently except for the occasional sob from Ven._

"_Yen Sid said if I killed anyone else, he would not be so forgiving of me like he was with Xehanort." Ven muttered weakly._

_Aqua had long ago come to terms with the fact that this was not a dream and that all this was really __happening__, She ran her fingers through his hair._

"_As much as I hate to say this, no one but me has to know about this." Ven looked her in the eyes, his eyes filled with regret but also a bit of confusion.  
"How can we hide a death?" _

_Aqua frowned, not to sure herself. "We'll find a way. You already started, when you burned his body." _

_Ven nodded, looking away from her._

"_Now, if we're going hide this we're going to have to start now. You get cleaned up and I'll go clean up Ma-his ashes."_

_An hour later Aqua and Ven were in the kitchen. Ven was nibbling on__a plain__piece of bread while Aqua made pancakes, which Ven had said no to having. Aqua hopped that this wasn't the first sign of an eating disorder. _

_Ven was in a clean thing of clothing, his bloody and ashen clothing was stashed away in Aqua's closet until they could find the time to burn them. The singed parts in his hair were cut off and his face was clean. Aqua had collected up Eraqus's ashed in a box and they were also in Aqua's closet, until they could be buried, along with the things that didn't burn fully. She also stashed Eraqus armour and anything else the late old man normally had on his person in her closet because she and Ven decided they wanted to make it seem like Eraqus had left during the night for as long as possible._

_One wouldn't even know that a death had taken place last night unless they were observant enough to notice that something was off about the two people in the kitchen, something Aqua knew Terra wasn't._

_Terra didn't come downstairs until Aqua was half way down her pancakes and Ven was almost finished his bread._

"_Hey guys." He said as he sat down beside Aqua. He gave her a small peck on the cheek._

_Ven smiled. "You guys should have told me!" He exclaimed. Aqua noticed that the emotion that he had used was fake, which was believable. Terra didn't though._

"_It happened just last night, due to that comment of yours I believe, but Aqua, you can correct me if I'm wrong." _

"_His comment motivated me a little but other then that, it had nothing to do with that first kiss."_

_The couple then shared a kiss, longer then the ones from last night. This caused Ven to cover his eyes with his hand._

"_Get a room, please."_

"...Then..."

"_I can tell you're not telling me everything."_

_It had been a couple days since Eraqus had 'left' and Terra was starting to get suspicious._

"_I told you everything. Ven found a note from Master Eraqus saying that he was leaving for a few days and then he lost the note. If you don't believe me then maybe you should go look for Master!"_

"_Then I will then! Good. Bye!"_

"_Terra wait!"_

"...It..."

"_Ven, I'm going after Terra. I want you to stay here." _

"_You're kidding me. You've got to be! You can't leave me here alone!"_

"_No, I'm not kidding. I'm trusting that you'll stay here and not do anything to hurt yourself in ANY way."_

"...Was..."

_Two weeks later, in the Keyblade Graveyard, Aqua finally caught up with Terra._

"_Please Terra! You've got to believe me! The Master is alive."_

_Aqua was sobbing now. Terra's eyes were yellow and darkness swarmed around him. She knew that this wasn't the Terra she had known just two weeks ago. It made her heart ache to see him like this._

"_Save your breathe Aqua. I've already met up with Yen Sid. He said the Master was dead, apparently the stars told him. He also told me it must have been Ven. I didn't believe him at first and it took a lot of convincing even after he reveal to me that Ven had killed before. I was actually on my way back to the Land of Departure when I met up with you here."_

"_Ven's seem to just have problems with darkness, just like you seem to be. You've gone evil."_

"_Darkness is not evil!" Terra yelled, knocking her the ground without warning._

_He summoned his Keyblade, but it didn't look like any of the Keyblades he had ever used._

_But before he could anything with it, something came crashing down and knocked Terra to the ground and Keyblade a distance away._

_It was Ven, despite the fact he had been told to stay home. He was in his armour, which is probably why he managed to knock Terra to the ground. Aqua used this distraction to get up and summon her Keyblade._

_Ven also had his Keyblade out. "It's fitting. The cliff I pushed you off is the same cliff I jumped off to knock you down." Ven spoke, his voice sounding alien. His words confused Aqua, but it started to click into place when Terra spoke._

"_So you've figured out that I'm not really Terra talking or controlling." He then let out a cold laugh._

"_I'm going to make sure I enjoy this, despite the fact that you're wearing his face."_

"...Terra...possessed by Xehanort's ghost."

_Ven couldn't bare to approach Aqua as she sobbed over Terra's bloody body._

"_It had to be done." He whispered before deactivating his armour and falling to the ground himself. He then sobbed more then he had over Eraqus's death, though his sobbing was nothing compared to Aquas. _

Aqua was sobbing in real time now. This was the first time she had reacted like this. All other times she held it in.

"You never told me just why Terra had to be killed to get rid of the darkness! I'm sure we could have found another way. Tell me, was killing Terra just a way to satisfy your apparent vendetta against Xehanort? How do you even know if Xehanort's ghost was destroyed that day?!"

Ven was now crying himself.

"Leave! Never come find me again. I can't bare to see you any longer!

Ven wiped away the tears on his face, though it was for nothing because they were quickly replaced and stood up.

"Fine, I will leave you alone! Maybe you should have reacted this way when you found out about Eraqus! Then you could have contacted Yen Sid and then he would have locked me up for the rest of my life or if he was in a particularly bad mood, end my own life. Then you and Terra could have lived happily ever after and had a bunch of kids!" And with those words, he created a Corridor of Darkness and stormed though it, leaving Aqua to cry by herself.

It truly is amazing how quickly things can change in life. You can go from having the best day of your life to having the worst, in under a second. And you can never take that second back, no matter how much you may want to.


End file.
